Check-protecting method



A. F. BRADSHAW.

CHECK PROTECTING METHOD.

APPLICATION FILED JAN.2, 1920.

Patented Nov. 1, 1921.

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CHECK-PROTECTING METHOD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 1, rear.

Application filed January 2, 1920. Serial No. 349,003.

1 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR FRANKLIN BRADSHAW, a citizen of the United States residing at Bieber, in the county of Lassen and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Check-Protecting Methods, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a method and its product for limiting the amount for which a financial document, such as a check, draft, note, and other instrument can be-determined and above which they would not be payable, and has for its object to provide a method for so protecting financial documents without the requirement of special data, devices, or other steps in the preparation of the document than merely the application to the document to be limited of the signature mark of the drawer or signer in a predetermined manner and a plurality of times.

My improved method consists in using the letters and spaces between the letters of a signature or signature mark for valuation designations, the signature first to be written once at any convenient or usual place on the face of the instrument, and the second or multiplicity of signatures being so written with relation to the first signature and to each other, when more than two signatures are used, according to the arbitrary value to be given to the letters and spaces and the relative position of the several signatures.

In the present method the letters and spaces of a signature may be given a value to be generally or universally known Without necessity of secrecy, unless there may in some particular case be reason for preparing a code of values, so that any person cognizant of the system may be readily informed of the intended maximum value for which the instrument has been drawn, the protection existing by reason of the difficulty of a person intending to change the value of the executed instrument having to remove the si natures andreplace them in a difl'erent relation and secure a duplication of the original signature without there being an apparent forging of the changed document. In other words, the method consists of writing the signature mark and then 7 writing another or other signature marks above or below and parallel or at an angle to the first signature or to each other, the supplementary signatures being located with reference to the letter or space representing the amount intended as the face value of the paper or document, or some multiple of that amount. I

In the drawings, Figures 1- to 7, inclusive, represent checks drawn for various amounts.

Fig. 1 is a plan or face view of an ordinary form of check having a single'signature, which, in the present system, is designed to indicate that the maximum sum for which the paper'would be payable is limited to $10.00, this being understood by those versed in the system. The check is indicated at C and the usual signature of the drawer indicated at 2.

In Fig. 2 a second signature 3 is shown as written with the first initial immediately below a certain or desired valuation letter or space of the first signature, and which will indicate, if the second signature is parallel to the first, that the value of the paper is not more than ten times the arbitrary value of that letter or space. In this example it is assumed that the first five letters of the valuation signature 2 may be given the value of 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 and the spaces between them the value of 2, 4, 6 and 8. From this it will be seen with a check drawn to the sum of $47 .50 and thesignatures written in the position as determined by the arbitrary letter values that the check would not be payable for a sum greater than ten times the arbitrary letter or space value beneath which the second signature is started. I

With the second signature being written at an angle to the first and below, Fig. 3, it will indicate a limited value one hundred times the value of the arbitrary letter value; in this case one hundred times 5, this being the value of the third letter of the signature. In this case the check is shown as drawn for. $485.00.

A signature that is written above and parallel to the first signature will be designed to multiply the indicated value letter by 1,000, that is, 7,000 as shown in Fig. 4, in g which case the second signature is shown as started above the letter r which has an arbitrary value of 7,'and the check is shown as being drawn for $6,954.45.

In the arrangement of the signatures as shown in Fig. 5, when the second signature is written above and at an angle it indicates a multiplication of the valuating letter or space by 10,000, the check having been drawn for $19,450.80.

A further arrangement of the signatures is indicated in Fig. 6, in which the second signature is inclined and arranged below the space having the value of 2, and a third signature is started below the third letter, having the value of 5, in the second signature; showing a value of not over $250.00.

A further system of valuating the letters and spaces of a signature is indicated in Fig. 7, in which the values of the figures and spaces are shown by the small numerals designated 5, but which numerals would not appear in the practice of the method.

Various changes may be made without departing from the spirit of my invention as claimed.

I claim:

1. An instrument of monetary value, when executed by the drawer, having a multiplicity of the drawers signatures arranged in an arbitrary manner with respect to each other to signify a maximum for which the instrument is negotiable.

' 2. An instrument of monetary value, when executed by the drawer, having a multiplicity of the drawers signatures arranged in an arbitrary manner with respect to each other to signify a maximum for which the instrument is negotiable, the signatures being positioned independently of other matter or data on the instrument.

3. An instrument of monetary value, when executed by the drawer, having a multiplie ity of the drawers signatures arranged in specific manner with respect to each'other and with respect to the letters composing the said signatures, to signify a maximum for which the instrument is negotiable, the signatures being positioned independently of other matter or data on the check.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ARTHUR FRANKLIN BRADSHAW. 

